(PHOTOS) The Trump dynasty or the Harris blended family: who will win the battle for the White House?

Dynasty or blended family? In the race for the White House, there are also two visions and two stories of the family which clash and play a crucial role for the image of Donald Trump and that of Kamala Harris.

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The Harris House

Became the first Second Gentleman after the accession of Kamala Harris to the post of vice-president in 2021, Doug Emhoff and his two children from a first marriage, Cole and Ella, form a resolutely modern blended family around the Democratic candidate.

This former entertainment lawyer, aged 60 like Kamala Harris, has become the secret weapon of the campaign, with numerous derivative products – mugs and t-shirts – bearing his image.

At the Democratic Convention, he made the audience laugh by recounting the first date, in 2013, with the then attorney general of California, whom he married the following year.

“Kamala Harris was exactly the right person for me at a very important time in my life. Today, at this point in our nation’s history, she is exactly the right president,” he said at the time.

Of Jewish faith, he had already been active during Joe Biden’s mandate by becoming a figure in the fight against anti-Semitism.

Her two children, who nickname their mother-in-law “Momala”, are also active in the campaign.

Cole, 30, an employee of a production company co-founded by actor Brad Pitt, did not shy away from talking about how politics changed their lives.

At first, he says his father didn’t seem entirely at home at the Capitol: “I was like, ‘What is my stupid dad doing here?’, but then he totally immersed himself in” his role.

Her sister Ella, 25, moved the Democratic convention by recounting how, during her adolescence, “Kamala was always there” for her.

A fashion designer, she put her social networks – nearly 500,000 followers on Instagram – to work for the campaign by embroidering, crocheting and knitting messages like “I voted”.

Trump’s troops

Donald Trump’s large family – five children, from three marriages, and ten grandchildren – already knows the White House and the workings of politics well.

During the Republican candidate’s mandate (2017-2021), it was his daughter Ivanka, advisor to the president, who played the leading role.

She largely took a back seat for the benefit of her two older brothers, Donald J^r and Eric, high-ranking members of the 78-year-old billionaire’s real estate empire.

The first, 46 years old, played a key role in promoting MAGA ideology (“Make America Great Again“) thanks to its social networks – 12 million subscribers in X – and its podcast Triggeredbut also in the choice of his father’s running mate, a close friend, Ohio Senator JD Vance.

Eric, 40, campaigned actively, in the media or during events. His wife, Lara, 42, was promoted to co-chair of the Republican National Committee at the start of the year, which helped reshape the party in the image of its champion.

It was his granddaughter Kai, 17, who played the role of softening the image of the Republican candidate, “a normal grandfather who gives us candy and soda when our parents are not there “, she told the Republican Convention in July.

His daughter Tiffany, 30, from a second marriage and very active in the 2016 and 2020 campaigns, was not involved this year.

His son Barron spent his early teenage years in the White House. At 18, he recently joined New York University and was rather discreet during the campaign, like his mother Melania.

The latter, however, published her memoirs at the beginning of October, in which she speaks little, but espouses the speeches dear to conservatives except… on the right to abortion which she defends.

A position seen by some as a gesture of independence and by others as a carefully controlled position to attenuate the feeling that Republicans are opposed to a right defended by the majority of Americans.